Name Calling

There I was at the Seattle Tacoma international airport waiting at the gate for my ride to come and take me home. I settled down in one of the comfy spots and started looking around me. Out of 7 rows of chairs filled with passengers, I spotted way too many Desis and probably 5 Firangs. Thinking about it, The Desis are the Firangs in this country(US) and the so-called Firangs are Desis here. Applying that logic, that place was actually filled with way too many Firangs ;) Never mind.

Ahem! Moving on with my story - I was sitting there making my last few 'Good bye' calls to my friends and suddenly the Emirates announcement starts which went (something like this) - "Hello Emirates blah blah paging Naraaayaanaa, Ramaaaswaaaram".. and a lot more other people. She just killed all the Indian names in the best way possible! I was on the phone with my jiju and both of us just couldn't stop laughing! What started next was a situation story which I had to tell and show off :P So here it goes...

This was my first time ever to the States. I was travelling to NJ via Air France. We were just landing at Paris and my connecting flight to NJ was an hour away. The air hostess on the flight started to announce all the names who had to take the next flight as they had a separate bus arranged to take us to the flight directly. If you don’t know, my full name is SAKINA KHUZEMA ADEEB. Though my first and last names are pretty straight forward, the middle name is complicated.

The air hostess announced a series of random names and amidst those I heard "Kujima Aaadib".  "Damn! it sounds so familiar" I thought. She probably repeated it 5 times before I realized it was me!!  I hastily walked towards her and said "I think that is Khuzema?".  Her face literally glowed in happiness. She smiled at me and said "Finally! Somebody came!". I thought, "Yeah right, if you screw up names nobody will show up". Actually, cant blame her. She was French and English was not even her second language. Her calling out a list of Indian names is like me riding a CBR! Not gonna happen without disastrous results.

I was standing next to her watching her break into a sweat and  read out names in a way I have never ever heard. I took the list from her hand and saw names like "Venkataraman", "Srinivasan", "Ananthamurthy".  I felt sorry for her and offered to help. Without any hesitation she handed over the Mic to me and there I was calling out names as if I knew these guys from childhood. All of them started coming in front and boarded the bus waiting for us. The air hostess was so relieved that she gave me a hug and said "Thank you!!!" (in her French accent of course).  Proud is what I felt!

Ok story vover - now get back to whatever you were doing :P

Flashback!

Merry Christmas peepals! 

6 more days for 2013 and I am still wondering what to do for the New year's. I guess I will eventually land up in some random place either dancing or eating or just wandering!  Right now, I sit here in front of the laptop (on a holiday), listening to a song which annoys my hubby the most, trying to write a plan for a project starting in 2013 and in the midst of all that, trying to write this ;)

BTW this is my 3rd attempt at a blog post this week. I don’t know why (may be I know why) I have just not been able to either turn my thoughts into words, or found time to write, or found the words and the time, but just didn't get enough "meat" to put into a post. Lets just hope I manage to finish this one successfully ;)

For all the "end-of-the-world" hype this year had, we seem to have passed by the "Doomsday" smoother than anticipated. Wonder if the whole 2012 prediction was just another way of getting a new topic to frighten people  or make money! Anyways, for me, I believe this year went really well! "How do you say that?" You may ask. Let me try to answer that as convincingly as I can :)

January - Started the year in a rather boring way (sitting at home). However, managed to reach my 100th blog post on the Newyears'. So proud of me on that one ;). Made my maiden visit to Kolkata and attended Amit n Ruchika's wedding. Enjoyed every moment of their hospitality and made some real witty friends :-))

February - Vishnu and I got famous on our 3rd anniversary :) Our story was featured in Femina February edition.  Haven't read it? See here. We celebrated the "D" day at Masinagudi along with love birds Hussain and Rash. We also signed papers for our new House which is currently under construction :)

March and April: Well, nothing much, first wedding in the team. Padma got into wedlock :) and I managed to save myself from getting fooled :P

May: By far the best-est month of the year :) My first trip to Seattle, loads of re-union, some major bonding with sister. Sky dived from 12,500 feet above sea level (I have a Certificate to prove that ;) ..)  Road trip to 3 states in 2 days - From LA to Grand Canyon to Vegas!  :) Also did a cycle gap visit to Dubai (you know why ;) )

June: Back home and continued normal life ;) Akka and kids visited us :) Urvi found a new baby sitter to cling and climb on :) and Rashi found a new partner in crime ;) In-laws started for their 2.5 months vacation to US.

Team outings, dinners, lunches, treats at its best :) Stephen's first visit to Chennai.

July:  Met Rosy and Mallika after ages! Super surprise planned by both of them :) Spent some very "embracing" moments with Kishen, Ambika and Mariya ;)

August: Best friend Suni got married to her forever friend Kiruba :) Back at work, launched India Kindle Store on Amazon.com

September: Trip to Bangalore, met Phaphda. Took complete pleasure of bugging Prathi :) Streaked my hair Red :) and and and ….Celebrated my Birthday with awesome surprises, loving wishes and cake cutting! Completed 4 years at Amazon :D

October: One day trek to Tada, fun time with team and hubby. Mr. Awesome moved to Bangalore (sad and happy for him). Gangnam style outing at Raddison Blu (Mahabs). Found new girls gumbal at work to jabber with :) We also bid farewell to Zenab, she left Chennai to pursue her PhD, may God bless you and the phD ;)

November: First road trip as a couple from Chennai to Kodai. Adventure time at Elephant Valley on the Tree house ;) A good eco-friendly birthday for hubby;)

December: Numerous project launches at work (team is super proud of their work). In the midst of all that attended half a dozen weddings, practically every close friend of mine got married this month. Laughter filled trip to Dharmapuri and Hoganakkel.

So, "Bhaisaab aap convince ho gaye ya mein aur bolu??" - Hope you had an awesome 2012 too. Looking forward to New year party (wherever that is) and 2013 :)

Raksha bandhan Special

Today is Raksha bandhan/Rakhi which is a celebration of the unique relationship between brother and sister :) I do have 2 rakhi brothers whom i wish without fail on this day but haven't met for ages :(. Today, however, I started my day thinking, why rakhi was a celebration of a sis-bro relationship?? why can't it be between the same sex? I have an elder sister who is caring as hell and takes care of me and my parents, why can't i tie a rakhi to her? Good question, with no good answer!

As i am known for being a revolt and doing things my way (which is usually not what the society recommends) I choose to write this post today and dedicate it to my sister :) I surely don't praise her too often and a public display of my love in a forum like this is something I have never ever done :) So, here's my dedication to my darling sister who is miles away from me, but very close to my heart. 

A word of caution: this might get too senti to digest, so please read at your own risk :)

Dear Sister,

When I was born, I had no idea I had an elder sister who i had to match with. You gave me mixed feelings about being the "younger one". You were one hell of a competition to beat when it came to studies, and I had to always be OK with our school teachers calling me "Maryam"! Oh BTW, Mom still calls me Maryam when she is missing u too much :P 

You were the Tom and I was the Jerry! I do not remember a single day during my childhood where both of us have not fought. Our conversations would start and end in a fight, and we made no excuses for being as blunt to each other as possible. Thank God we didn't get physical! Nevertheless, I cherish every single fight cos that made us stronger ;) and then the unfortunate (read fortunate) happened - you left us to meet Uncle Sam!

You leaving to US was a big change for all of us at home, it was silence in the house for weeks. Mom, dad and me would look at each other and just have tears in our eyes cos we were missing u so much! I never knew i would miss you cos I initially thought "Happa! good riddance". But I was so wrong! After the realisation had struck i jumped at every occasion to talk to u on the phone and guess what, FIGHT! I didn't know the feeling was mutual until i came to the US and spent time with you. It was the best time i ever had with you and from then on, we bonded like best friends! 

I must say you have flaws (lol)!You are stubborn, You are impossible, You are bossy and you are impatient. You are short tempered and you irritate me (sometimes)! But!!!  You are the best sister one can ever have! The most caring, protective, unconditionally loving and super fun sister I could have ever hoped for! 

So to wrap it all up without sounding like I am writing a Love letter on the Internet - Happy Raksha Bandhan dear Sis. i accept gifts in Cash (USD) and kind! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D

Why I like to be in Chennai

Recently lots of my colleagues crib about how much they hate/dislike Chennai. Thanks to my non-Tamilian look, people often assume that I would second their feelings and have a similar story of how this place ruined my social life or rather LIFE! Nothing personal against the people who don’t like this city, everybody has their right to liking or disliking something, however, this outburst from my colleagues really got me thinking, is this place that bad? Well my immediate answer was - No! "Why do you like this place Sakina?" you may ask. My answer - this blog post :)
- Chennai is what I call "home". I have had the most memorable memories, the best school life, the most fun filled college life, an interesting career and a very filmy love life. I have lived most of my life here, and do not mind living the rest here. In simple words, I am born and brought up here.
- I believe that this city is one of the safest places in India, especially for the girls. Try going on your scooty at 1 am in the night all alone in some other city and be sure to reach home safely. I have done this many times right here with no fear!
- The weather - yes! I mean it! The weather! (I can totally imagine your eyes pop out reading this). They say Chennai has 3 seasons Hot, Hotter, Hottest - Agreed. I rather enjoy being under the hot sun getting a tan, than wrapping myself in half a dozen layers of clothes. I rather have bath with normal tap water than from a boiling geyser. I rather sweat it out and get my body to cool down than freeze to death in snow. I rather enjoy those few rainy days with joy, than to carry an umbrella/rain coat daily and suck at it! I rather fall sick just once a year during change of weather than be sick all through the year due to erratic change of weather daily!
- The beaches - the world's second longest beach is in Chennai :) - well keeping that fact aside, having a beach at a driving distance is luxury. Beaches are a good way for me to unwind and a good adda to catch up with my friends. I don’t need a food court at the mall to meet someone; I would rather go to the beach with them and eat roasted peanuts instead :)
- The simplicity - the people here are simple and grounded. No show off, no bull shit. People here don't expect too much out of themselves or each other and are happy with what they have. None of us ever missed KFC, or a McD, or EA mall 10 years back.

This place is not perfect and has its flaws. But the point is, which place doesn't? I guess every city, every town, every village has its own good/bad and people who live there (or decide to live there) just see the brighter side of things. This city is special to me and will always be no matter what other people may think about it :)

A dream come true

 They say dream hard, dream a lot, dream something which will wake u up and make u achieve it, dream something which will bring tears to your eyes when they come true.

I spent the whole of last weekend with my parents. I got pampered and I pampered them. Mom was busy packing and I was busy executing her orders (hehe). Dad kept filling the house with savories, vegetables, eggs etc. for Zenab (she is going to be staying alone while they are out). I must tell you it was the funniest and most memorable weekend I have had. Oh btw, you must be thinking why I start about dreams when all I wanted to do was spend time with Mom and Dad? The actual dream was my parents’. They wanted to go on the pilgrimage that every Muslim longs to go on, the pilgrimage which has the most importance in any Muslim’s life. Yes, Mom and Dad were finally going for Haj!

When my sister and I started to work, our first and foremost goal was to get the family in good financial shape. Well we almost achieved that so we jumped to the next one and that was "Send Mom and Dad to Haj". We have been planning for this day for god-knows-how long. Beginning of this year, Maryam and I made up our mind that we will send Mom and Dad to Haj this year no matter what. The "no matter what" attitude really helped all the four of us to make it happen. There were a lot of people who had applied for Haj and we were just praying that our parent's application gets approved. It didn’t :(. But Mom didn’t lose hope, she went ahead and took all the possible recommendations to the Haj organizers and Mullahs and followed up every day to get their name approved. Fortunately (or unfortunate for somebody else) there was a cancellation and Mom and Dad got their approval! Hurray!!


After that Mom single handedly did most of the prep. From preparing a list of things needed to going for shopping and getting them :). She was motivated and enthusiastic, she was happy to see that she would be finally going for the trip she always dreamt of. Dad started his process of wrapping up work, so that there would be no unfinished business when he was out. Maryam and I were there to help wherever/whenever needed :) In fact, Mom and Dad were well prepared a month prior to their travel dates and the last few days before the trip were simply spent in spending time with each other and relaxing :)

Just the day before the travel, I felt anxious; I was worried about my parents having a safe trip. People who have been to Haj before have told loads of good and bad stories. They say going to Haj is life changing and I was hoping they would just be fine. This year they are expecting around 35 lakhs of people there, huge enough crowd to get lost and never be found :(. I am sure Mom and Dad are equally tensed. But they are being brave enough to make this trip.

On Monday Morning (Oct 3rd 2011) Mom and Dad woke up early, said their prayers and started getting ready for the long trip. They had to be in complete white from head to toe; White burkha, white chappal, white specs (the thread), white bag. It was an absolute overwhelming moment to see the dream come alive :). It surely brought tears of happiness in our eyes. Here's wishing them a successful and a life changing Haj!

The Cricket Craze!

India is filled with Cricket fans! Instead of blood, cricket runs in the veins of Indians (that's the heights of fanaticism here). Last 6 weeks, most of the Indian youth (and the oldies) went through a lot of anxiety, restlessness and distraction. Thanks to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. From  Media to politics everybody understood only Cricket language. Cricket was not only in the air, but also in their dreams!
Don't get me wrong here, Iam not trying to spoil the feeling of victory by quoting the extent of madness, I am a cricket fan too, just the level of fanaticism is slightly low. In the Semi's - When Indian team won against the Pakistan team - I jumped and rejoiced too (If I knew to whistle, I would have done that too). I clapped with excitement when Dhoni hit his winning Sixer at the Finals against Sri lanka. MS Dhoni was criticised for many of his decisions: Remember the disappointment when Ashwin was replaced with Nehra in the Semi's? All of us thought that we are going to lose so bad just because of Nehra's bowling talent! And then, what a performance, Nehra was the best bowler in that match and all the critics had to shut their big mouths after an awesome win!
Anyways, I am not technically sound with Cricket so I would continue to write what I am probably good at (stories). To make my point (again), I completely enjoy cricket, I love watching it with friends and family and also enjoy screaming for every 4 or 6 our guys make, and sometimes also dance in front of the TV when India Wins! Don't believe me? Read on!
This craze about cricket was introduced to me by my dad! He used to play cricket every weekend with his group of friends. I was very small then when my dad used to regularly go every Sunday to have a piece of cricket! When we got Cable TV at home, my dad was super excited about all the lovely matches he can watch in Star Sports with english commentary (I somehow hated the the painful Hindi commentary on DD). From then on, any Cricket match, ODI or Test, we used to watch as a family in the house!
The four of us (My parents, sister and me) are a bunch of enthu-patani's! We would do extra preparation when there was an India match going to happen. School homework would be done at light speed. Mom will make special snacks and keep it ready. Dad will close shop and come home early just to make sure he doesn't miss 1 second of the action. Our home was located in a central location (Parrys) where there were very small houses and loud TV sets. When the match starts, we could not only hear our TV blowing full volume, but the neighbor's too! My dad would get so involved and emotional that he would pile up Rs.2 to Rs.5 coins on the TV set begging the batsman to hit a sixer! (All that money eventually went to the poor). My sister and I would get comfortable seats on the Divan (a kind of couch) and start cheering when the match starts. We would also pick Hindi songs to sing when a sixer or four was hit!
During a typical India match, if India is losing too many wickets, Dad would pile up more coins and start switching channels (the logic was, we can avoid the evil eye on our players :P when there is so much pressure on them) and when the neighbors start whistling or clapping, we would know India is playing well and switch back to the sports channel ;). During a nail biting situation, mom would close her eyes and do a silly trick asking "India jeetse ke nai???" (The silly trick is matching her hands with eyes closed and if the fingers match right, we will win ;)..).
Yesterday, I was not in the usual craziness avatar and was watching the match very calmly, hoping that Dhoni will see me and play calm ;). When the champs won the match, Mom called me and congratulated with so much cheer that I went down memory lane! It was surely a nostalgic moment for me!

Here's for the team who won it after 28 years! Go India Go!

The Pepper Spray Story...

Yesterday's topic at RJ Kanmani's show was "Should we use pepper spray in Chennai?" - Well good question. I didn’t really listen to the answers but immediately drifted away into my own Pepper Spray Story! I used to carry Pepper spray in my bag when i was in the US.
I was staying with a couple of girls in a shared apartment and had my colleagues staying in and around the same area. One of my friends who helped me find the apartment was finally wrapping up his tasks at work and was getting ready to get back to India. In order to give him a good farewell another common friend invited both of us for dinner. In the evening after work, we walked to our friend's place and settled down when suddenly he remembered that he had to pick up his last set of clothes from the nearby laundry. He promised to be back in ten minutes ..sharp! All of us started setting up the dinner table and waited for him to arrive. 10 minutes became an hour but no sign of him. His phone was not reachable and we waited impatiently!
He came back after 2 hours, sick! His eyes swollen, wounds on his cheeks, his stomach was hurting bad and his cuts on the face were bleeding! He was MUGGED! The laundry was in the parallel road and 2 huge guys had attacked him while he was returning and tried to take away his purse and cell phone! He started screaming for help and the more he screamed, the more they punched him. Finally somebody spotted him on the road and called 911. The 2 guys fled after they got what they wanted and left him stranded on the road. The Cops and ambulance arrived soon and he went through emergency medication and filed a police complaint.

All of this happened at the door step of my friend's house and none of us heard it or saw it!

We freaked out and were in a state of shock. We lost our hunger and all we could think of is his safety! We booked a cab from her place to his place (which is the parallel road again). We had no courage to walk on that road in the dark again! Everybody around us looked suspicious (the Cab driver included)! I dropped him home and went to my place, Shivering with fear in cold weather!
We went to the nearby hospital next morning, got him checked and confirmed no severe injuries and bid him farewell at the airport! I must mention, the entire team in the US called and checked on him (Including our CEO). It was heart filling to see the care people showed around us.

I was strictly instructed with the following things after this incident:
- A pepper spray in my bag ALWAYS
- Nothing more than $5-$10 in my purse.
- When mugged, don’t scream - just surrender and give money or spray the pepper!

A lesson learnt and an incident which can never be forgotten! RJ Kanmani is surely reminding me of a lot of things through her not-so-commonly-spoken-about topics :)

Lost + found

As kids, almost all of us have lost ourselves in a crowd and have cried until you found your family. I am no different! I have had my share of the so called "Lost+found" incident.

I don't remember at what age I was, but I was pretty small enough to get attracted to all the small "ice cream on wheels" guys at the Marina beach. It was a normal weekend where the family decided to chill out at the beach late in the evening with some family friends. We were a small gang sitting on a bed spread and playing games with mommy. Dad volunteered to buy us some roasted bhutta (corn) and like a tail, I followed him wherever he went. It was past sunset and the lighting at the beach was very low, so visibility was very bad. I mistook some other person as my dad and kept following him. The guy was walking very fast and was heading towards the car park. I had no clue why my dad was running so fast and I kept calling for him with my soft and sweet voice (wink) "Daddy!". It was at the car park that i realized that I was following the wrong "Daddy" and found myself lost. I kept looking for every cart which sold corn and was searching for dad until I got distracted by an ice cream wala and started to pester him to give me a cup of ice cream. Funny part here is, I completely forgot that I was lost! I don't know what happened next, but all I remember is, mom had finally spotted me and hugged me tight and I was back home safe and sound :)

P.S - Thanks to Vasu for reminding me of this incident during lunch :)

Naani maa

It has been quiet some time since i penned down my accumulated thoughts and it's time to vent out! So...here I was, all busy with my work, and i suddenly found myself addicted to this song "Meri Kahani" from "Atif Aslam". This song has not only been sung well but also has great lyrics too.

tera mera galyoon main yun phirna
phirte phirte raat ko yun thakna
thak ke nani ki godi main sona
paryoon k des ja ke na aana

"thak ke naani ko godi mein sona" - this line brought innumerable memories of my time with my naani. My childhood has been pretty plain and uneventful but is filled with some very good times with my naani. We had a ritual of visiting her every Saturday and the entire "jing bang" would go to her place and have a ball. I have seen her from walking around a huge house, to going slow with a walking stick until she got bed ridden. Rashida, Mariya, Maryam and myself used to spend most of our summer vacations there. Nanni's place was huge, with just 2 rooms separated by a long walk way where we could play cricket if needed. It was the best place to play Hop n catch, skipping race, kho-kho, hide n seek, blind man's buff and what not! During festive season, the entire family would gather and jabber and bring the roof down. Man it was the most happening destination in town!

(That's all the cousins @ Naani's place on Eid!)

I still remember the last smile on my Granny's face, when she looked at me and said "Sakina tujhe dekh mujhe aata hain paseena" - her favorite dialogue to me! She slept that night and never woke up. She slept peacefully with a smile on her face and free from this world. I still go to meet her at the Cemetery and whisper into her ears "miss u naani"

I really do!